The Jewish people were tired, weary, and angry on their journey. But God had Moses remind the people that through their hardships, he had delivered them from slavery, he had guided them through the dangers of the desert, he had provided them water to drink and manna to eat. God reminded his people of their blessings, how he cared from them and provided for their needs.
As we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ today, we are reminded how the Lord has cared for us in the midst of our reality. I am reminded, too, that I first came to Mississippi in June 2000 as a member of the Mississippi Teacher Corps. It is really hard to believe it has been 23 years. I had never been to Mississippi before that time. I arrived at the Ole Miss campus, ready for summer school, ready to take the Praxis teacher exam, ready to teach Spanish at Greenville High School in the Mississippi Delta. Well, I say “ready”, because I thought I was ready, but really, I wasn’t ready for the reality that awaited me.
Four of us lived together in a house in Greenville as roommates, all of us members of the Teacher Corps. It was a two year commitment, teaching high school and earning a Masters degree in Education at Ole Miss, but I ended up staying another two years at Greenville High School. I remember that after class on that first week of school, one of the students came up to me and told me that her mom had heard that I was Catholic and wanted to invite me to their Catholic church. I told her that I had already attended Mass at St Joseph parish the first two weekends I had been in town, but she told me that there was another Catholic church in Greenville as well. It surprised me that there would be two Catholic Churches in this town in the Mississippi Delta. I guess I really did not figure it out until I arrived at Sacred Heart parish that Sunday morning to realize that this was the historically African American parish in town. By the end of mass, it felt like everyone in the parish had greeted me and had made me feel very welcome. On that visit Sunday I had visited the parish, they had already asked me if I would teach religious education classes. They had bombarded me with many questions. But, for my four years in Greenville, Sacred Heart became my second home. I loved my parish family there. And I really felt a part of the Body of Christ in that community. I continue to feel a gratitude, love, and thanksgiving for that community that I cannot put into words, for I know in my heart, if it was not for the love and kindness of that nurturing community, I would not be here right now as a priest in the Diocese of Jackson.
We receive the body of Christ in the Eucharist, as we hear Jesus tell us in our reading from John’s Gospel. We Catholics hold the Eucharist dear to our hearts. I recall how in the pandemic, how the stay-at-home orders prevented us from public celebrations of the Eucharist for a while. Jesus tells us today that he is the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever. We long for this bread when it is not available to us.
We receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. We are to be the Body and Blood of Christ in the world as well. I told you the story of coming to Mississippi, of teaching in Greenville, because it was the way I lived out being a part of the Body of Christ at that time in my life. I take great joy in celebrating the Eucharist with all of you here at the parishes in Clinton and Raymond. And I take great joy bringing the Eucharist to the VA hospital in Jackson and the prisons in Pearl and Yazoo City, knowing what it means to bring the Eucharist to the Catholics who are incarcerated in those facilities.
Sister Thea Bowman certainly exemplified the spirit of the Body and Blood of Christ in our Diocese and in our modern world. Sister Thea has her roots in Mississippi. She was born in Yazoo City and raised in Canton. Even though she went to Wisconsin to join an order of Franciscan sisters, where she taught in Catholic schools and where she celebrated the richness of African American Catholic spirituality, in the last years of her life before she died of cancer at the age of 52, she worked in the office of intercultural diversity in our Diocese of Jackson. Her spirit is embodied in this prayer that we are going to pray together. May these words inspired by the life and work of Sister Thea not be just words for us - may they call us to examine our hearts, and may they call us to action.
Ever loving God, in your infinite goodness, you inflamed the heart of your servant and religious, Sister Thea Bowman with an ardent love for you and all people. May her prophetic witness continue to inspire us to share the Good News with all, but especially with the poor, oppressed and marginalized. May Sister Thea’s life and legacy compel us to walk together, to pray together, and to remain together as missionary disciples ushering in the new evangelization for the Church we love. Gracious God imbue us with the grace and perseverance that you gave your servant, Sister Thea, for in turbulent times of racial injustice, she sought equity, peace, and reconciliation. In times of intolerance and ignorance, she brought wisdom, awareness, unity, and charity. May her light be a beacon of goodness and holiness in our troubled times. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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